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You are truly on a desert island. Sand and sea surround you, with no life in sight. As your ship went down, you managed to salvage a boombox, some batteries, and a 60-minute cassette tape you made for emergencies like this. The tape will be your only companion for the foreseeable future. What is on it?
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“Wires” – Dead and Gone
I first heard this song while on tour with my old band Anodyne, way back in 1998. We were playing a youth center in Sherbrooke, Quebec, and the Dead and Gone record “T.V. Baby” was playing over the small sound system while we were setting up. This song always reminds me of that night.
“For Her Light” – Fields of the Nephilim
Fields of the Nephilim somehow managed to slip below the radar of a lot of people, at least in the U.S. This song epitomizes everything I love about this band: dark, intense atmospheres and Carl McCoy’s stentorian voice.
“Into the Crypts of Rays” – Celtic Frost
Frost are one of the most influential bands in extreme music. Like Slayer and Black Sabbath, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t at least appreciate Tom G. and the various incarnations of Frost. When I first heard this song, I was immersed in punk rock and hardcore, but the rawness of this song had more in common with early Black Flag than Judas Priest or King Diamond.
“Shut Me Down” – Rowland S. Howard
I discovered Pop Crimes, the record that features this track, after I discovered that Howard had passed away. It was literally about a month after he died when I picked this up. I read in an interview that he was really happy about the new material and was hoping to get out on the road again, but none of that materialized. It was sad. This song is my favorite track on the record; the line “the stars above me, the night so deep that I could drown” always chokes me up a little. I always imagined that this track would have been perfect for the soundtrack of Wild at Heart, the film by David Lynch.
“Beverly Hills” – Circle Jerks
Every mix tape needs a Circle Jerks song, and “Beverly Hills” is my track. Probably one of the first American hardcore songs I ever heard.
“Die by the Sword” – Slayer
Though I love Reign in Blood, the early records are sometimes the go-to records for me. Also, this track is featured in the film River’s Edge.
“House of Suffering” – Bad Brains
This is one of the toughest-sounding songs on my favorite Bad Brains record. It’s one of the most cock rock-sounding hardcore records ever made, but the songs shred. I put “House of Suffering” on when I need to deadlift or when I’m getting ready to do a heavy run.
“6116″ – Leviathan
The first time I heard this song, I was driving around Richmond with Dave Witte, and he unleashed this on me. It was summertime, and we had the windows open on this song cranked at a severe volume.
“Belief” – Neurosis
The summer of 1999 was probably the best summer I’ve had in the past two decades. It was a solid two months of good memories for me, and this song always reminds me of that time.
. . .
Hammerhead – “Double Negative”
. . .
“Lord of All Fevers & Plague” – Morbid Angel
This is a study in brutality and destruction from beginning to end. Morbid Angel rip.
“Double Negative” – Hammerhead
The Hammerhead record Into the Vortex occupies the same place as Damaged by Black Flag to me. It’s dark and heavy without being overtly metal. There’s also a really cool video for this song on the Amphetamine Reptile video collection Dope, Guns and Fucking Up Your Video.
“Lord of This World” – Black Sabbath
Yeah, this has been part of the insomnia soundtrack for most of my life.
“Disorder” – Joy Division
This track always reminds me of girls I knew back in the mid-’90s that used to go to Unbroken shows.
“Little Black Angel” – Death in June
I saw Death in June with NON back in the late ’90s when I lived in Boston. The show was at a place called Manray, a goth club in Cambridge which has now been renovated into a condominium complex. “Little Black Angel” was the hit that night for me.
“Cease to Exist” – Charles Manson
There used to be a record store in Danbury called Trash American Style. Malcolm, the proprietor of the shop, was a huge Manson fan. I found the Lie LP there along with a few bootleg cassettes of him performing songs in jail. I thought the title “Cease to Exist” sounded real heavy.
“Dead Head” – Godflesh
Streetcleaner terrified me the first time I heard it. The record crushed me. I felt changed after I heard it. The version of the record I had included “Dead Head”, which was almost like a salve to my wounded brain after it had been brutalized by the first part of the record.
“Life of Pain” – Black Flag
This is another part of the insomnia soundtrack. My old band Anodyne covered this song for a Black Flag tribute record that Initial Records put out. It was fun to record this song, but it’s a pale simulacrum of the original.
“Blind Dumb Deaf” – Cocteau Twins
This is one of the most beautiful songs by a band known for writing beautiful music.
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DOWNLOAD: STRANDED AT C-60 #2: MIKE HILL [153.04MB .zip]
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Mike Hill sings and plays guitar for Tombs. He blogs at Everythingwentblack. Tombs will tour with Wormrot in March (dates) and release a new record in June.
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I’m a Mike Hill fan boy so I can’t wait to download this and read more when I get home. Thanks.
This is a amazing list of songs! Mike Hill is a legend in the northeast and a lifer.Respect is due.
I went back and listened to Dead Head this morning and I am honestly wondering why this isn’t in my Godflesh rotation more.
“This track always reminds me of girls I knew back in the mid-’90s that used to go to Unbroken shows.”
“Double Negative” kills. Can’t wait to download this either.
Dead and Gone! That explains a lot. They are really a fantastic band. “Wires” is one of their best songs. A strange band with a unique vision that I’ve never heard replicated anywhere else. Anyway, I’ll probably borrow this mix when I get exiled to my own desert island.
Dang, I thought I was pretty much the only dude in the continental US who listened to the Nephilim back in the day.
“Beverly Hills, Century City, everything’s so nice and pretty, all the people look the same, don’t they know they’re so damn lame!!!” I can still recite those lyrics from heart. One of THE anthems of the 80s, brings back so many memories from my wasted youth.
That would be one depressing desert island.
Seriously though, much respect for including Hammerhead. One of my favorite bands back in high school, with _Into the Vortex_ being one of my favorite albums by them (a close second behind their debut _Ethereal Killer_). I love how it switches back and forth between sociopathic rants–e.g., “Swallow,” “All This Is Yours”–and bizarre, pulpy sci-fi-ish tales of situations gone horribly awry–e.g., “Double Negative,” “Empty Angel.” My favorite part of “Empty Angel” gives me goosebumps just thinking about it:
Saw you jump into the portal
Will it close up when you are halfway through?
You were sucked into the vortex
All mangled and deformed
Empty angel, I envy you
Fucking masterful, epsecially with that huge riff behind it. Hammerhead is dead. Long live Hammerhead.
Dead head is o e icky favorite songs, I think that the tiny tears ep is almost as good as street cleaner despite baving a terrible name
Love this tape. I actually own most of the albums these songs come from.
Rowland Howard is seriously underrated. Shivers has to be one of the greatest songs ever written.
Also Death in June is a personal favorite of mine, hoping to catch Douglas P. live some day.
I’m totally sending this link to my friends.
I would kill myself before being stuck on a desert island with this fucking misery.
I’m digging both of these desert island mix tapes. Reading their notes while I listen reminds of a time when I actually paid full attention to the liner notes.
Some new music for me too – definitely in Aesop Dekker’s choices.
Keep the guest mix tapes coming!
I really like this mix. It’s dark as hell, and I’m not sure if I’d want to be stuck on a desert island with it, but it gives great insight into Tombs’ music. That Fields of the Nephilim song is awesome.
Glad that other people remember Hammerhead. I saw ‘em live 3 times between 1992-93. First time along with Melvins who were once on the undercard during a San Jose show headline by the very boring Helmet. Then again with Melvins & the very wild & crazy, Cows. This mix is near perfect – just needs some Poison Idea (or G.I.S.M.)
Btw, Cosmo where did all the links to other blogs/site go? Any chance it’ll come back?
boring
RagnarR – The links are now in a static page in the navigation box at the top. They were getting too unwieldy at the bottom of the page. Thanks for noticing!
Dead and Gone are fantastic! I will need to hunt their releases down if they still exist.
Diggin’ it! My first time even hearing of Hammerhead.
Sack rippin’ good!
I listened to this mixtape twice in a row on the slow train back from London on Saturday arvo. It may not have been designed for it, but the mood perfectly fit the massive hangover I was nursing. Hangovers and long train rides are not good. But this mixtape is.
Well played, Mike Tombs.
When I was feeling better a couple hours later, I listened to Winter Hours and it was crackin’. Can’t wait for new Tombs!
Sorry for the huge review, but Im really loving this topic, and hope this, as well as the excellent reviews some other people have written, will help you decide if its the right choice for you.